Poems eBook

The elegant author of Telemachus has illustrated this
subject, with equal fancy and feeling, in the story
of Alibee, Persan.

NOTE p.

Why great NAVARRE, &c.

That amiable and accomplished monarch, Henry the Fourth
of France, made an excursion from his camp, during
the long siege of Laon, to dine at a house in the
forest of Folambray; where he had often been regaled,
when a boy, with fruit, milk, and new cheese; and in
revisiting which he promised himself great pleasure.
Mem. de SULLY, ii. 381.

NOTE q.

When DIOCLETIAN’S self-corrected mind

Diocletian retired into his native province, and there
amused himself with building, planting, and gardening.
His answer to Maximian is deservedly celebrated.
He was solicited by that restless old man to re-assume
the reins of government, and the Imperial purple.
He rejected the temptation with a smile of pity, calmly
observing, “that if he could shew Maximian the
cabbages which he had planted with his own hands at
Salona, he should no longer be urged to relinquish
the enjoyment of happiness for the pursuit of power.”
GIBBON, ii. 175.

NOTE r.

Say, when contentious CHARLES renounc’d a
throne,

When the emperor Charles V. had executed his memorable
resolution, and had set out for the monastery of St.
Justus, he stopped a few days at Ghent, says his historian,
to indulge that tender and pleasant melancholy, which
arises in the mind of every man in the decline of
life, on visiting the place of his nativity, and viewing
the scenes and objects familiar to him in his early
youth. ROBERTSON, iv. 256.

NOTE s.

Then did his horse the homeward track descry.

The memory of the horse forms the ground-work of a
pleasing little romance of the twelfth century, entitled,
“Lai du Palefroi vair.” See Fabliaux
du XII Siecle.

During the siege of Harlem, when that city was reduced
to the last extremity, and on the point of opening
its gates to a base and barbarous enemy, a design
was formed to relieve it; and the intelligence was
conveyed to the citizens by a letter which was tied
under the wing of a pigeon. THUANUS, lib. lv,
c. 5.

The same messenger was employed at the siege of Mutina,
as we are informed by the elder Pliny. Hist.
Nat. x. 37.

NOTE u.

Hark! the lee, &c.

This little animal, from the extreme convexity of
her eye, cannot see many inches before her.